


Present

by Townycod13



Series: K2 Week [7]
Category: South Park
Genre: M/M, sp k2 week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 01:06:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15474120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Townycod13/pseuds/Townycod13
Summary: Kyle confesses how he feels before he leaves for college.





	Present

Kyle fiddled with the box for what was now far too many times. It could be said that fiddling was a way to ease the anxiety that ate away at the human mind. It didn’t. That was a dirty fucking lie created by old bastards that didn’t know the first thing about anxiety.

Kyle probably didn’t know the first thing about anxiety either but he _did_ know that every single damn time he toyed with the corners of the damn box he felt his apprehension grow.

The sun set over the horizon of trees, a mere trace of color across the horizon painting the sky in oranges and red, a view he’d seen a million times over while atop the ruins of the old sodasosopa.

How many afternoons had he spent up here playing ninja or practicing magic with Kenny?

How many evenings had he shared in secret staring at meteor showers with his friends?

How many mornings had he watched the sunrise here morosely, waiting for something he wasn’t sure about but unable to feel at ease until Kenny climbed up next to him without a word?

Countless.

He left for college within the week.

Who knew if he would ever return to these specific dangerous structures? Who knew if they would even be still standing the next time he returned to South Park?

The future was a wide unknown space that only fanned the flames of his trepidation.

He wasn’t here for a future, he reminded himself, holding the box delicately in the last of the sunlight, he was here because he wanted to express something and it was his last chance to do so.

The sound of creaking that accompanied Kenny’s normal journey to the upper platform did nothing to ease the disquiet inside.

He put down the box, softly at his side and waited for Kenny to pick it up.

“Dude, what’s this?”

Kyle shrugged, “I saw it and I thought of you.” His mouth felt dry, he tried to will himself to continue but found the words drowned out in the throbbing within his skull.

“Okay?” Kenny sat down next to him and Kyle could just barely see a concerned frown in his peripheral, “You okay, man?”

He screwed up his courage.

“I do that a lot, I mean, think of you.” That didn’t sound right but he’d gone too far now, “Every day, I think. I’ll wake up and I’ll pick my phone to see if you’ve sent me some dumb meme and then I’ll get ready for school and wonder if you’re coming today.” He was half tempted to send himself plummeting to the ground below rather than proceed, he felt an uneasy nausea that assaulted his senses and he suddenly understood why Stan had such trouble keeping it in, “And if you’re at school I’ll wonder how to maximize my time with you, without it seeming strange, or I’ll measure the distance between us to see how close is too close.”

 

He swallowed thickly, the silence beside him offering no encouragement or discouragement. It was a Kenny silence, pensive, attentive, listening.

“And I’m leaving next week.” He hated that, he hated leaving; he hated making the _right_ decisions when the wrong decisions were more tempting, “And every day all I can think about is how badly I want to take you with me. Daydreaming about getting an apartment together and never letting go of your hand—“

His words died away, something choked in him couldn’t handle it anymore and he looked again to the horizon for courage. The growing darkness offered none.

The silence demanded more and Kyle couldn’t let it go unspoken.

“I—have feelings for you, Kenny.” He finally dared to look at the face of his companion, “Like, romantic feelings. I… I don’t need anything from you, I know where we stand, I just wanted you to know.”

Kenny’s eyes were an open expanse of surprised curiosity and possibly out of a lack of words, he looked down again at the box and opened it.

It was small and stupid, Kenny wore a lot of bobby pins nowadays to control his lawless locks and it was just something that had struck Kyle as so very _Kenny_ when he’d seen it at the store.

A simple star on a hairpin.

Kenny looked up with that gorgeous smile that lit up Kyle’s life and haunted his every thought.

“Thank you.” Kenny’s voice sounded thick with emotion, “Can… can I think about it? All of it, I mean?”

Kyle nodded numbly, he hadn’t expected that response. His thoughts had conjured every terrible reaction but the one he’d found most likely was a gentle apology hidden by a joke. Not a sincere request.

They watched the stars together in silence, the hairpin still in Kenny’s lap held like a treasure.

\--

Two months later, unpacked into his dorm and already wanting to drop two of his classes, Kyle received a simple package in the mail with a sunflower hairpin inside attached with a photo.

Kenny’s stunning smile was complimented by a star pulling up the hair just over his left ear.

Kyle swallowed, turning the photo around to see the words scrawled on the back

A dirty joke, a confession, and a promise.

He should expect nothing less from Kenny. It was ridiculous. It was wonderful. He laughed so hard he could feel tears pricking his eyes.

And then, as this was a matter of urgency, he found his phone.


End file.
